We really wanted to do this task, because it sounded like such fun to get postcards from random people and see what they would say! We knew that we wouldn't get them all back, but the potential payoff seemed like so much fun, we couldn't resist. 20 postcards (the amount we could send using two full books of postcard stamps) seemed like a good amount, enough to make it likely we'd get at least some sort of response (for those who want to skip to the end: we got 4 postcards back--they're the first 1 and last 3 pictures below).

While we were buying postcards from a DC tourist shop, we kept seeing the president's face. So we decided to try a little experiment. Instead of 20 random postcards, we got 10 different DC postcards...and 10 copies of the George W. Bush postcard. On the 10 DC postcards, we wrote "Who are you?" and on the Bush postcards, "What do you think?" On both, we added the Warmice address and a little bit of explanation: "This is part of a collaborative postcard project. Please write something about yourself, mail it, and see the results online. http://sfzero.org/tasks/Honest-Mail"

Kprime did all the handwriting, because we wanted them to be legible (Spidere's handwriting looks like a kindergartener's or a psychopath's). While she was doing that, Spidere got two packs of blue pens, to leave with the postcards. The idea, by adding instructions, plenty of open space, and leaving a pen right with each one, was to make it as easy as possible for people to respond. The fewer barriers to doing something, I've found, the more people you can actually get to do it. It's sort of surprising, but it's more important than how interesting it is, or how good...making something easy to participate in makes a huge difference.

After we'd prepared them, we started placing the postcards at various places around town, where we hoped people would pick them up and give interesting responses.

The first was left in the ice cream shop where we'd prepared the cards. Two in an independent movie theater. Most were left in a bookstore, hidden in various interesting books for people to find. One in a nearby international hotel. One at FedEx. One at McDonald's. The last three on the metro.

We wanted to strike a balance...between making them easy to find, where people would quickly see them and give us a response (but they could also be cleaned up and thrown away by the normal staff) and being more hidden (where they might sit for months, but were less likely to be noticed by people who might not care). So we may yet get more responses as people find some of the more hidden bookstore postcards--we'll scan them in and post them if we do.

The only Bush postcard we've received was blank, received the day after we left the cards (probably not even examined, just a good samaritan dropping the card in the mail). Maybe it's a harder question that people don't have an easy answer to? Or something they don't want to publicize on a postcard?

In any case, the three filled-out "Who are you?" postcards were each interesting, and a real treat to receive. Great task!